iM Square, a European investment and development platform dedicated to asset management, has secured a new financing commitment from Eurazeo, one of its founding shareholders.
Eurazeo is committed to support iM Square’s investments over the next few years and is expected to become its reference shareholder. Other founding shareholder Le Groupe Dassault/La Maison will also participate.
This new commitment will enable iM Square to acquire three to six additional participations in entrepreneurial active asset managers with USD1 to 20 billion of AUM, high growth potential and complementary strategies, such as alternative management. Most of the targeted asset managers are based in the US and Europe. In additional to permanent capital, iM Square also brings financial and operational support as well as bespoke investment and distribution capabilities to its partners, which makes iM Square’s model unique in Europe.
Since 2015, iM Square has successfully acquired minority stakes in two US asset management companies: Polen Capital, an independent management firm specialised in growth stocks and Dolan McEniry Capital, specialised in US corporate bonds. Their respective assets under management continue to undergo strong growth: Polen Capital’s AUM grew from USD7.5 billion to USD17.4 billion since the partnership with iM Square in 2016, while Dolan McEniry’s grew from USD5.8 billion to almost USD6.5 billion since iM Square acquired its stake.
In addition, iM Square keeps on seeking for new shareholders which have distribution and investment capabilities, in the US and Europe.
Supported by a strong pool of long term investors, iM Square’s objective is to invest with current and future shareholders over USD500 million within 2 to 4 years.
Philippe Couvrecelle (pictured), Founder and CEO of iM Square, says: “This additional commitment from our shareholders is a mark of trust and confidence which will allow us to accelerate the rollout of our project, not only by acquiring stakes in new partner companies to complete our product offering, but also by strengthening our distribution capability. Indeed, it comes at a time when we are launching our US distribution platform and developing our distribution resources in Europe and within other markets. It will enable us to bring our current and future partners not only a source of permanent capital, but also a unique distribution task force to partner and service their growth.”
Marc Frappier, Managing Partner of Eurazeo Capital, says: “We are convinced that financial services, and asset management in particular, are a promising investment sector for Eurazeo that benefits from solid fundamentals. The launch of IM Square is a wonderful initiative that combines growth and entrepreneurial spirit, in a particularly deep market, offering its shareholders the opportunity to deploy several hundred million euros. We are delighted to support its founders by providing them with the long-term horizon and financial strength adapted to their market.”
iM Square has also announced the launch of its US distribution platform, based on the same model as its existing European platform. The company will support and develop the operational distribution capability of its current and future partners in Europe and the US, which are both core markets.
